I 3 Y)\ 

The  Women  of  Japan  of  Old 


AN  ADDRESS  BY 

HIS  EXCELLENCY  MASANAO  HANIHARA 
AMBASSADOR,  OF  JAPAN 


GIVEN  MARCH  12,  1924 
610  LEXINGTON  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK 


UNDER.  THE  AUSPICES  OF 
THE  MISSIONARY  EDUCATION  MOVEMENT 
AND 

THE  YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


MIS 


"'Women  of  Japan  of  Old” 

By  M.  Hanihara 


Madame  and  Ladies: 

I am  not  accustomed  to  speech-making  or  lecturing,  or,  to 
be  more  exact,  I lack  that  happy  training  and  equipment.  It  is 
true  that  I am  sometimes  booked  to  make  an  address,  but  only 
when  I see  no  way  out  of  it  and  then  usually  on  subjects  more 
or  less  directly  connected  with  my  own  trade,  which  is  difficult 
enoug'h  for  me. 

But  today  I am  to  talk  on  a subject  widely  different  from 
the  political  or  commercial  relations  between  countries  or  the 
meaning  of  international  rights  and  obligations.  The  subject 
you  have  chosen  for  me — “Women  of  Japan  of  Old” — is  certainly 
a very  interesting  one,  and  when  you  were  good  enough  to  ask 
me  to  talk  on  it,  I thought,  a little  too  hastily,  that  I might  be 
able  to  tell  you  something  about  it  and  said  yes,  without  realiz- 
ing how  difficult  it  would  be  to  treat  such  a subject  in  an  in- 
forming way. 

I now  find  that  all  I thought  I knew  of  the  subject  proved 
— on  examination — to  be  nothing  but  “bunk” — if  you  will 
pardon  my  using  slang.  Every  bit  of  it  needed  a good  deal  of 
study,  research  and  corroboration.  And  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  you  gave  me  long  notice,  I have  not  been  able  to  find  suffi- 
cient time  for  the  needed  study.  This  I frankly  confess  in  the 
beginning,  lest  you  be  disappointed  too  greatly.  Further  I 
want  you  to  understand  that  in  trying  to  tell  you  something  on 
the  subject  as  best  I can  at  present,  I do  so  with  perfect  con- 
sciousness of  my  liability  to  errors  and  incorrectness,  which  I 
hope  I may  be  able  to  rectify  some  day. 

Let  me  begin  with  a statement  that  may  surprise  you.  The 
position  of  woman  in  Japan  was  for  many  centuries  more  promi- 
nent, in  comparison  with  that  of  man,  perhaps  than  in  any 
other  nation  of  the  world.  It  is  only  within  relatively  recent 
times  in  our  history,  that  is  to  say,  within  perhaps  three  to 
four  hundred  years  before  the  restoration  of  1867,  more  espe- 
cially during  the  last  two  hundred  years  of  that  period,  when 
the  feudal  regime  was  absolute  all  over  the  Empire,  that  the 


3 


position  of  women  took  its  more  modest  and  less  prominent 
appearance  in  Japan’s  national  life.  I say  advisedly  “appear- 
ance,” because  in  reality  it  was  the  women  who  kept  homes — 
the  headquarters  of  families — sacred  during  those  feudal  ages. 
And  in  my  country  the  family,  and  not  the  individual,  has  from 
time  immemorial  been  the  unit  of  national  and  social  organi- 
zation. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  remind  you  that  the  original 
progenitress  of  the  Imperial  House  was — according  to  our  legend 
— the  Sun-goddess,  Ama-terasu,  whose  descendant  Jimmu-Tenno 
was  the  first  Emperor  of  Japan.  Mr.  Curtis  Hidden  Page  tells 
us  on  the  authority  of  a good  old  Japanese  encyclopaedia  that 
it  was  Ama-terasu’s  mother  the  goddess  Iza-nami-no-mikoto, 
who,  meeting  the  god  Izanagino  mikoto,  her  later  consort, 
exclaimed  at  once: 

“What  joy  beyond  compare 
To  see  a man  so  fair!” 

The  masculine  genius  was  much  displeased — because  he 
felt  he  was  outwitted,  I suppose — and  said:  “I  am  the  male! 

It  is  but  reason  that  I should  speak  first.  How  should  a woman 
speak  before  the  man?  ’Tis  not  to  be  thought  of.” 

Thereupon  they  decided  to  go  in  opposite  directions  round 
the  great  central  column.  So  they  met  again,  god  and  goddess. 

This  time  the  male  genius  spoke  first: 

“What  joy  beyond  compare 
To  see  a maid  so  fair!” 

So  these  words  became  the  origin  of  Japanese  poetry,  we 
are  told.  And  so  this  is,  we  are  told  also  to  believe,  the  origin  of 
the  courtship,  which  has  been  conventionalized  to  its  present 
form,  where  woman  is  not  expected  to  take  initiative. 

Then  there  is  another  story  that  Susa-no-wo,  brother  of 
the  goddess  Ama-terasu,  who,  because  of  his  impetuous  and 
unruly  character  was  banished  from  heaven  to  earth,  once 
meeting  Princess  Kushi-Inada  was  completely  overcome  by  her 
charms  and  winning  her  by  his  devotion,  composed  in  her  honor 
a most  affectionate  poem  which  is  preserved  today  in  its  sup- 
posed original  form.  If  these  legends  indicate  anything  it  cer- 
tainly does  not  show  that  in  our  mythological  age  women  held 
any  lower  or  less  independent  position  in  life  than  men. 


4 


Coming  down  to  the  later  ages  of  more  authentic  history, 
during  the  period  extending  over  more  than  a thousand  years 
since  the  time  of  the  accession  of  the  first  Emperor  Jimmu 
and  preceding  the  golden  ages  of  Nara  and  Heian,  which  rough- 
ly covers  the  period  of  600  B.C. — 600  A.D.  in  western  history, 
we  see  women  figuring  very  prominently  in  war,  politics,  re- 
ligion, art  and  poetry.  Names  such  as  Jingu-kogo,  who  sup- 
posedly about  the  time  of  Claudius  II  marshalled  a fleet  and, 
with  miraculous  assistance  of  waves  and  fishes,  crossed  to 
Korea,  which  she  subdued,  and  the  famous  Empresses  Suiko 
and  Jito  and  beautiful  Princess  Sotohori,  suggest  only  a few  of 
them.  History  also  tells  us  that  in  those  days  there  were  many 
women  chiefs  of  the  militant  tribes  in  the  Island  of  Kiushu,  one 
of  the  principal  islands  of  Japan. 

Thus  the  sex  sometimes  described  as  the  gentler,  does  not 
seem  always  to  have  deserved  the  adjective.  At  all  events,  it 
occupies  a preeminent  place  in  the  early  annals  of  Japan.  And 
for  several  centuries  following,  through  the  ages  of  Nara  and 
Heian  which  are  celebrated  for  the  glories  of  their  civilization, 
and  even  since  the  usurping  military  potentates  came  into 
power,  women  continued  to  stand  high  in  Japanese  history  not 
only  as  acknowledged  leaders  in  learning  and  literature,  but 
even  as  factors  in  politics  and  in  combat  of  arms.  As  lately  as 
the  end  of  the  10th  Century  the  novel  form  appeared  in 
Japanese  literature,  from  a renowned  authoress  known  as 
Murasaki  Shikibu,  who  was  of  the  famous  Fujiwara  family. 

Aston,  in  his  excellent  work  on  Japanese  Literature,  de- 
scribes this  ‘prose  epic  of  real  life’  as  the  first  appearance  of 
this  literary  form.  Before  that  time  there  had  been  only  stories 
of  no  great  length,  and  usually  of  a highly  romantic  character, 
but  this  woman  produced  a straightforward  record  of  finely 
realistic  character.  Men  and  women  are  depicted  faithfully, 
and  in  a charmingly  simple  style,  as  they  really  exist,  in  their 
normal  surroundings,  and  with  all  their  faults  and  virtues,  their 
passions  and  their  individual  weaknesses.  There  is  nothing 
sensational,  nothing  horrifying  or  unnatural,  and  the  whole  tale 
is  spun  smoothly,  giving  us  a varied  and  detailed  picture  of  the 
life  and  society  in  the  ancient  capital  of  Kyoto,  such  as  we 
possess  for  no  other  country  at  the  same  period.  The  work  is 
called  the  Genji  Monogatari,  and  has  fifty-four  admirable 
chapters. 

It  was  followed  by  the  Makura  no  soshi  by  another  woman, 
Sei  Shonagon,  which  is  a collection  in  12  volumes,  of  essays  and 
aphorisms,  an  entertaining  and  informing  miscellany.  These 
are  acknowledged  today  as  the  best  classics  in  Japanese  litera- 


5 


ture,  and  when  we  consider  that  they  were  written  at  or  about 
the  time  when  King  Alfred  ruled  in  England,  it  becomes  a most 
remarkable  fact. 

These  two  works,  the  greatest  of  a golden  period,  are  un- 
doubted masterpieces,  and  bear  unmistakable  testimony  to  the 
independence  and  intellectual  strength  of  the  woman  of  Japan 
a thousand  years  ago. 

At  an  even  earlier  period,  in  the  7th  and  8th  Centuries  A.D., 
the  art  of  poetry  was  skilfully  practised  by  women.  Although 
poetry  at  that  time  was  almost  exclusively  the  province  of  the 
illustrious  classes,  those  poems  have  been  collected  and  edited 
in  various  forms  by  successive  generations  and  widely  read. 
Today  they  constitute  an  important  part  of  the  classic  litera- 
ture of  Japan. 

Now  this  brief  outline  shows  us  one  thing,  in  connection 
with  other  facts  that  are  known  to  us.  In  the  early  times 
Japan  did  not  share  the  feeling,  common  to  most  Eastern  coun- 
tries and  in  fact  to  most  Western  countries,  that  women  should 
be  kept  m subjection.  It  was  not  until  the  later  ascendency  of 
Chinese  ideas  and  learning  and  the  rise  of  military  chieftains 
to  power  that  the  apparent  position  of  women  was  changed. 
In  these  early  ages  Japan  was  often  referred  to  by  the  Chinese 
as  the  “Queen-Country,”  and,  as  Aston  says,  “many  instances 
might  be  quoted  of  Japanese  women  exercising  an  influence  and 
maintaining  an  independence  of  conduct  quite  at  variance  with 
our  preconceived  notion  of  the  position  of  women  in  the  East.” 

It  was  only  about  the  end  of  the  16th  Century  that  there 
began  the  period  that  can  be  said  to  connect  ancient  and  mod- 
ern Japan.  It  was  characterized  partly  by  the  end  of  all  inter- 
course with  the  outer  world,  partly  by  the  spread  of  Chinese 
scholarship  and  ideas,  mostly  those  of  Confucius,  and  partly  by 
the  strong  consolidation  of  the  clan  or  feudal  system,  which 
had  been  growing  for  the  preceding  three  centuries. 

To  whatever  of  these  factors  may  be  attributed  the  change 
that  took  place  in  the  status  of  woman,  it  was  a fact  that  there 
came  a change,  which  seems  to  me  to  be  more  apparent  than 
real.  Perhaps  it  was  the  development  of  an  ethical  system 
having  its  origin  in  China,  possibly  it  was  the  arising  of  a 
necessarily  military  system  of  government  based  on  the  clan, 
and — at  the  foundation  itself — on  the  family,  with  the  conse- 
quent emphasis  on  the  duties  of  loyalty  to  the  head  of  the 
house,  the  man.  Perhaps  both  reasons — they  seem  to  be  sup- 
plementary— had  their  influence  in  causing  the  change.  It  was 
logically  reasoned  that  the  obedient  child  would  mature  into  the 


6 


loyal  subject,  and  great  insistence  in  all  the  Japanese  training’ 
was  made  of  the  paramount  importance  of  the  virtues  of  loyalty 
and  filial  piety. 

From  the  beginning  of  this  era  women  disappear  from 
public  life  and  cease  to  fig'ure  so  prominently  as  their  mothers 
did  even  in  the  world  of  literature.  The  woman’s  first  duty 
became  that  of  implicit  obedience  to  her  husband  and  her  com- 
plete absolution  in  the  service  of  his  family — this  characteristic 
subjection,  or  more  justly  I should  say,  willing  self-sacrifice  of 
woman  has  continued  into  our  own  time. 

I say  vailing  self-sacrifice,  for  they,  the  women,  as  well  as 
the  men,  learned  by  long  experience  and  knew  by  heart  that 
they  were  living  under  feudal  rule  and  that  they  must  bow  to 
it.  True  enough  there  were  always  some  few  who  wanted  to 
defy  it,  whenever  they  had  chance,  but  the  solid  majority  of 
the  people  loyally  supported  it,  with — to  borrow  Burke’s  expres- 
sion— “that  proud  submission,  that  dignified  obedience,  that 
subordination  of  heart  which  kept  alive,  even  in  servitude  itself, 
the  spirit  of  exalted  freedom.”  In  such  circumstances  it  was 
quite  natural  and  commendable  that  they  came  to  entertain  the 
view  that  woman’s  willing  surrender  of  herself  to  the  good  of 
the  home  and  family,  was  as  honorable  and  necessary  as  man’s 
self-surrender  to  the  good  of  his  lord  and  country. 

Under  this  appearance  of  submission  to  men,  the  women 
found  the  satisfaction  of  being  de  facto,  if  not  de  jure,  masters 
of  their  homes  and  households,  and  above  all  supreme  guardians 
of  their  children.  If  they  were  not  the  real  masters,  it  was  no- 
body’s fault  but  their  own. 

Naturally  their  responsibilities  were  great  and  they  real- 
ized it.  To  meet  these  responsibilities  they  had  to  train  them- 
selves not  only  in  the  art  of  household  management  but  in  the 
art  of  arms  to  protect  themselves  and  their  children  and  elders, 
while  the  men  were  away  on  the  service  of  their  lords  and 
country.  Nor  was  their  education  in  letters  and  other  arts 
neglected — for  these  were  required  not  only  for  their  own 
refinement,  but  were  necessary  equipment  for  the  proper  bring- 
ing up  of  their  children.  And  most  important  of  all  was  their 
training  of  moral  character.  From  their  girlhood  women  were 
trained  and  disciplined  as  much  as  men  to  repress  their  feelings, 
to  be  always  calm  and  sedate,  simple  and  clean,  pure  and  chaste, 
graceful  but  dignified,  courteous  but  firm,  obedient  but  honest 
and  brave  but  tender.  All  this  training  was  primarily  for 
themselves  and  for  their  homes  and  children,  to  which  women 
devoted  their  lives,  and  the  driving  force  back  of  it  all  was  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  self-sacrifice. 


7 


I often  hear,  from  foreigners  and  sometimes  even  from  my 
own  countrymen,  the  remarks  that  the  position  of  women  in 
Japan  of  old  was  very  low  as  compared  with  that  of  men.  But 
I cannot  agree  with  such  hasty  assertions.  To  me  they  seem 
not  to  distinguish  between  differences  and  inequalities.  In 
Japan  of  old  it  was  taken  for  granted  and  accepted  that  there 
was  a difference  between  men  and  women,  in  their  temperament 
and  physical  constitution,  if  not  in  all  intellectual  and  moral 
faculties.  Each  accepted  their  respective  spheres  of  use  and 
activity  in  this  life,  and  within  their  own  domain  women  enjoyed 
just  as  much  power  and  respect  as  men. 

As  a social-political  unit  of  the  time  woman  might  have 
counted  as  little  as  on  the  battlefield,  but  as  wife  and  mother 
she  was  held  in  the  highest  respect  and  received  the  deepest 
affection  and  deference. 

If  woman’s  freedom  was  limited  in  certain  respects,  com- 
pared with  that  of  man  as  titular  head  of  the  family,  she  did 
not  feel  humiliation  or  oppression  on  that  account.  She  had 
enough  to  do  and  enjoy  in  her  own  domain. 

So  far  I have  been  speaking  mostly  of  women  of  the 
Samurai  class.  But  what  I have  said  of  them  is  generally  true 
of  the  women  of  other  classes,  such  as  fanners,  artisans  and 
merchants.  Perhaps  one  difference  is  that  women  of  these 
more  common  classes  enjoyed  a somewhat  greater  freedom  in 
daily  life  than  did  the  women  of  the  Samurai  class.  For  the 
model  of  womanhood  they  generally  looked  to  their  sisters  of 
the  Samurai  class.  But  they  were  not  so  much  circumscribed  as 
their  Samurai  sisters  were  by  conventional  rules  and  etiquette, 
and  had  freer  opportunity  for  self-expression.  Preeminent 
characteristics  of  these  women  of  common  classes  are,  besides 
their  inculcated  sense  of  duty  as  wife  and  mother,  their  optim- 
ism, love  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  tenderness  for  things  in 
general.  All  these  traits  contribute  to  contentment  of  soul  in 
spite  of  the  seeming  hardships  of  their  daily  life. 

For  an  illustration,  let  me  tell  you  a little  about  Kaga  no 
Chiyo.  She  lived  from  1703  to  1775 ; was  bora  of  a good 
family  of  the  plebian  class  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
popular  exponents  in  Hokku  of  the  feelings,  pathos  and  thoughts 
of  the  people  of  her  class.  By  the  way,  Hokku  is  a new  short 
form  of  popular  poetry,  which  has  been  developing  since  the 
loth  Century,  and  is  today  one  of  the  most  popular  diversions 
among  men  and  women  of  all  classes  in  Japan.  Let  me  borrow 
from  Mr.  Page  some  of  his  translations  and  accounts  of  some  of 


8 


her  Hokku.  When  she  was  married,  this  was  Chiyo’s  wedding- 
gift  to  her  husband: 

The  Persimmon,  lo! 

No  one  can  tell  till  he  tastes  it! 

Marriage  is  even  so. 

Apparently  this  persimmon  was  not  too  puckery;  and  the 
marriage  was  a success,  till  interrupted  by  her  husband’s  early 
death.  She  lived  out  the  rest  of  her  long  life  without  marrying 
again,  though  famous  and  sought  after,  and  though  fallen  on 
days  of  poverty,  and  having  to  make  a living  by  the  teaching 
of  her  art.  She  sang  her  lonely  widowhood  in  the  following 
few  lines: 


I sleep — I wake — 

How  wide 

The  Kaya  with  none  beside. 

Kaya  means  mosquito  net.  Her  little  son  died  too,  and  her 
sorrow  is  feeling  expressed  in  the  following  lyric: 

I wonder  in  what  fields  today 
He  chases  dragon-flies  in  play 
My  little  boy — who  ran  away. 

She  had  wit,  too,  and  the  Japanese  cheeriness,  to  live  her  life 
out  with,  and  to  meet  misfortune,  even  the  misfortune  of  grow- 
ing stout.  In  Japanese  poetry,  the  willow-tree  is  a symbol  of 
the  noble  lady,  graceful  and  gracious.  Chiyo,  going  one  day  to 
give  her  lessons  at  the  house,  perhaps,  of  a nouveau-riche, 
heard  the  maids  tittering  at  the  stout  lady-poet.  Turning  quick- 
ly, she  commanded  their  respect  with  this  good-natured  but 
witty  verse: 


The  Willow-tree 
May  an  armful  be, 

But  none  the  less  a Willow. 

Living  simply,  perhaps  with  no  servant,  Chiyo  went  one  morning 
to  her  well  to  draw  water — and  found  that  a morning-glory, 
quickly  growing,  had  twined  around  the  well-sweep  and  blos- 
somed. She  could  not  dare  disturb  it.  So  she  went  on  to  her 
neighbor’s  door,  asking  for  water  in  a six  word  poem  which  the 
neighbor  may,  just  possibly,  have  appreciated — but  which  was 


9 


in  any  case  destined  to  become  one  of  the  best  known  of  all 
Hokku : 


The  Morning-glory 

Has  stolen  my  well-sweep  today. 

Gift-water,  pray! 

Finally,  Chiyo  gives,  in  a poem  of  seven  words,  the  essence 
of  Oriental  philosophy:  the  conception  that  all  phenomena — the 
things  that  seem,  including  our  many  individual  lives — are  but 
changing  and  deceptive  manifestations  of  that  one  central  life 
which  is  the  universe: 

All  things  that  seem 
are  but 

One  dreamer’s  dream. 

I have  taken  much  time  for  the  story  of  Kaga  no  Chiyo,  in 
the  hope  that  it  may  give  you  a general  idea  as  to  the  place  in, 
and  views  of,  life  of  the  fair  victims  of  the  subject  of  my  talk. 

I said  before  that  such  conception  of  womanhood  and  its 
influence  has  continued  into  our  own  time.  I did  not  mean 
that  there  is  or  has  been  since  the  days  of  the  feudal  reg-ime 
no  change  or  progress  in  the  status  of  women  or  in  their  atti- 
tude toward  and  thought  of  this  life.  Changes  were  inevitable. 
Evolution  could  not  be  stopped.  I only  wanted  to  say  that  if 
there  still  remained  today  in  the  women  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion of  Japan  some  really  good  and  precious  qualities,  they  were 
largely  the  happy  heritage  of  the  admirable  example  of  those 
older  women  of  my  country.  In  the  short  space  of  seventy 
years,  since  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century,  Japan  has  under- 
gone and  has  apparently  emerged  unhurt  from  an  almost 
miraculous  transformation  from  a system  of  feudalism,  most 
highly  developed  by  centuries’  training  or  force  of  circum- 
stances, into  a modern  constitutional  form  of  government  and 
the  consequent  new  order  of  things  in  the  social  and  indus- 
trial life  of  the  nation.  The  secret  of  it  all  is,  in  my  opinion, 
that  the  old  foundation  stone  of  society,  the  family,  has  re- 
tained its  massive  strength,  chiefly  because  of  the  women  who 
have  been  the  real  guardians  of  that  social  unit.  They  had  the 
power  and  faculty  of  discharging  their  responsibilities,  which 
they  willingly  assumed.  Without  their  admirably  self-sacrific- 
ing devotion  to  their  homes  and  families,  without  their  intelli- 
gence, courage  and  tender  influence,  the  nation  could  not  possibly 
have  stood  such  a sudden  and  overwhelming  change  in  its  life. 
I want  to  emphasize  this  fact,  because  the  women  of  Japan  of 


10 


old  and  probably  those  of  today  have  so  often  been  misunder- 
stood and  misjudged  by  the  people  of  the  West  and  also  by 
some  of  their  own. 

After  all  is  it  not  true  of  the  history  of  all  nations,  espe- 
ciallly  in  modern  times,  that  there  is  no  wholesome  progress 
where  women  are  not  pure  and  wholesome,  not  only  in  their 
physical,  but  in  their  intellectual  and  moral  equipment  as  well? 
If  Japan  is  entitled  to  any  compliments  for  her  progress,  more 
than  half  is  due  to  her  women. 

People  often  talk  of  the  necessity  of  the  emancipation  of 
women.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  in  my  country  and  elsewhere, 
it  is  more  the  men  who  need  emancipation.  If  they  could  get 
rid  of  some  of  their  foolish  notions  of  self  or  their  prejudices 
of  each  other  and  could  emancipate  themselves  from  the  chains 
of  their  immediate  surroundings  and  traditional  habits  and 
learn  to  speak  in  terms  of  true  brotherhood  of  men,  the  affairs 
of  the  world  and  of  every  individual  nation  would  be  much 
better  regulated  than  they  are  today. 

I differ  from  some  ancient  philosophers  of  the  East.  I do 
not  believe  that  women  are  half  as  selfish  and  sinful  as  men. 
Men  are  by  nature  brutal,  selfish  and  aggressive.  It  is  only 
when  they  come  in  contact  with  the  influence  of  good  women 
that  they  develop  their  masculine  virtues  or  their  better  quali- 
ties. I for  one  feel  sad  to  see  women  trying  to  reform  men, 
permit  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  the  whirl  of  men’s  brutal 
struggle,  where  the  spirit  of  love  and  justice  play  but  little  part. 

We  have  in  Japan  today  women,  mostly  the  so-called  newly 
educated,  crying  for  things,  not  knowing  that  they  are  the  very 
things  which  they  are  suffering  from  because  they  have  them. 
What  they  really  need  are  the  things  they  could  inherit  from 
their  mothers,  which  they  either  refuse  to  accept  or  lose  through 
their  own  neglect.  I often  wonder  if  these  young,  apparently 
well-educated  women  had  really  good  mothers  to  look  after  them. 

Then  we  have  in  Japan  another  class  of  young  women  in 
ever  growing  number,  whose  mothers  and  elder  sisters  enjoyed 
a wholesome  life  much  in  the  open  air  on  farms,  on  hill-sides, 
on  sea-shores  and  in  the  cheerful  surroundings  of  safe  and 
peaceful  homes,  now  crowding  themselves  into  the  close  air  of 
congested  factories  or  offices  where  nothing  but  the  grim  hand 
of  business  and  temptation  is  seen,  simply  because  they  can  get 


11 


a little  more  money  and  because  they  think  they  can  have  more 
freedom  and  less  exertion,  while,  in  fact,  the  opposite  is  the 
truth. 

I am  not  a reactionary.  Nor  am  I against  progress.  I am 
only  trying  to  give  you  just  an  indication  or  two  of  the  woman 
problems  we  are  having  in  Japan  today.  Temptation  is  strong 
to  talk  more  about  the  women  of  my  country  of  today.  But  I 
had  better  avoid  the  dangerous  ground  and  confine  myself  to 
the  prescribed  sphere  of  my  subject. 

I thank  you  for  your  attention. 


12 


